We woke up early and headed to the place where it all began, Disneyland. For the unitiated, the park is much smaller than Walt Disney World in Orlando but this allowed us to experience a lot of things that we would have missed, especially during a quick trip like this one. We rode tons of rides and experienced some attractions we were familiar with from Orlando including Space Mountain (which was better due to its speed), Pirates of the Caribbean, and the rethemed Jungle Cruise, based upon the new movie. While we missed seeing Dwayne Johnson, we got the full experience with our skipper, who was very much in the character of the movie.
No Maxpass and Lines
One thing we noted during this trip was the effects of not having a Maxpass to visit 3 select attractions. Due to the large crowds that are returning to the parks post-COVID, it made the trip a visit a bit more difficult since lines were longer and waiting in the SoCal sun was not always pleasant. That said, it was a good visit and we got to do everything we wanted to in a couple of days. It is hoped that Disney will begin offering the Maxpass or an alternative soon, but nothing has been annouced. In our humble opinion, Disney needs to intoduce this soon as the crowds are getting untenable for the average family celebrating that once in a lifetime trip.
Blasting Off on the Millennium Falcon 
Visiting the California Version of Galaxy’s Edge was a Cool Experince 
The Haunted Mansion is Calling to You! 
Pluto is Welcoming Guests of All Ages!
Hotels
Since we didn’t cover this on day 1, we do want to briefly touch on the hotel scene in Anaheim, since its a bit different from Orlando. In Anaheim there are three primary Disney themed accommodations: Disneyland Hotel, the Grand Californian, and the Paradise Pier Hotel. In addition, there are also a number of other hotels called “Good Neighbors” in the area of Disneyland and California Adventure, providing a variety of options for all budgets.
The Disneyland and Grand Californian hotels are the ones that seems to be the most able to handle guests at this time, post pandemic. In our case, we stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel, which was fine, but not as magical as some of our other stays, so we were a bit disappointed. My recommendation would be to seriously consider your investment in a trip there for now until things recover fully unless you really know Disney parks and ways to navigate the crowds. The experience at WDW is about 2 months ahead (due to an earlier reopening) and seems to be better for most guests.
Conclusion
We had a great time in Southern California and the next time we visit, we would have to compare which park is best given our different interests. While my son felt that California Adventure was a better park, its mainly based upon the fact that he has been to WDW many times. For me, it was all great to see since California has a totally different feel from Florida. For now though, it was awesome experiencing Disneyland a second time after being there in 2015 and being able to enjoy our first trip to a Disney destination since 2019!
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